Collection folders in a content management system

ABSTRACT

A content management system allows a user to create a collection folder to which a submitting user can add content items without being able to access content items added to the folder by other submitting users. A collection folder is created in a namespace of a collecting user and folder is made available to multiple submitting users to allow the submitting users to add items to the folder. When a submitting user first request to store a content item in the collection folder, the content management system creates a sub-folder associated with the submitting user in the collection folder and stores the content item in the sub-folder. The submitting user is given rights to the sub-folder, but is not given rights to sub-folders created for other submitting users.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional application62/028,315, filed on Jul. 23, 2014, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The described embodiments pertain in general to content managementsystems, and more specifically to collection folders in which a user canstore content items without being able to access content items stored byother users.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are certain situations when a person desires to collect contentitems (e.g., documents, videos, and photos) from multiple people. As anexample, a teacher may want to electronically collect homeworkassignments from her students or a person may want to obtain vacationpictures from people that were on vacation with her. Typically, a personcollects content items from other people by having them email thecontent items. However, collecting content items via email is a tediousprocess because the person has to go through each email, download theitems, and store the items in one location.

SUMMARY

A content management system allows a user to create a collection folderto which a submitting user can add content items without being able toaccess content items added to the folder by other submitting users. Whena user (collecting user) of the content management system requests tocreate a collection folder to which other users (submitting users) canadd items, the content management system creates the folder in anamespace maintained by the system for the collecting user. Thecollection folder is made available to the submitting users.

When a submitting user request to store a content item in the collectionfolder, the content management system verifies that the content itemsatisfies folder criteria set by the collecting user for the folder. Thefolder criteria may include, for example, that stored content items besmaller than a certain size or that content items be added to folderprior to a certain time. If the content item satisfies the criteria, thecontent management system creates a sub-folder associated with thesubmitting user within the collection folder and stores the content itemin the sub-folder.

The submitting user is given write rights to the sub-folder, which allowthe submitting user to add additional items to the sub-folder. Thesubmitting user may also be given read rights to be able to access itemsthat submitting user has stored in the sub-folder. However, thesubmitting user is not given rights to sub-folders in the collectionfolder created for other submitting users. As a result, the submittinguser cannot access those sub-folders or the content items stored in theother submitting users' sub-folders.

The collecting user can access each content item stored in thecollection folder (the items in each sub-folder). In one embodiment, thecollecting user can also share the collection folder with another userand provide the user with administrative rights that allow the user toaccess the content items in the collection folder.

Features and advantages described in this summary and the followingdetailed description are not all-inclusive. Many additional features andadvantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in viewof the drawings, specification, and claims hereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a content management system environmentaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating modules operating within acontent management system according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram of a process for a collecting user tofacilitate obtaining content items from submitting users according toone embodiment.

The figures depict an embodiment for purposes of illustration only. Oneskilled in the art will readily recognize from the following descriptionthat alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustratedherein may be employed without departing from the principles describedherein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of content management system environment 100according to one embodiment. Environment 100 includes client devices102A, 102B, and 102C, and content management system 104 connected to anetwork 106. Although illustrated environment 100 only includes threeclient devices 102, other embodiments include additional client devices102 (e.g., millions of client devices 102).

FIG. 1 and the other figures use like reference numerals to identifylike elements. A letter after a reference numeral, such as “102A,”indicates that the text refers specifically to the element having thatparticular reference numeral. A reference numeral in the text without afollowing letter, such as “102,” refers to any or all of the elements inthe figures bearing that reference numeral.

A client device 102 is a computer system used by users to communicatewith the content management system 104 via the network 106. A clientdevice 102 may be, for example, a personal computer, a mobile phone, atablet, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). Through a client device102 users of content management system 104 can provide content items tocontent management system 104 for storage. A content item may includeone or more of the following: digital data, audio, video, text, images,and documents.

Further, each client device 102 includes a client application 108through which a user of the device can access a user interface tocommunicate with the content management system 104. The clientapplication 108 can be, for example, a web browser or an application(e.g., mobile or desktop application) specifically designed tocommunicate with the content management system 104.

For a user having an account with the content management system 104, theclient application 108 may store on the user's client device 102 a localcopy of a namespace maintained for the user by the content managementsystem 104. A namespace includes multiple content items. In oneembodiment, a namespace is a root directory of a file system directorytree that includes one or more content items. The local copy of thenamespace is synchronized with the namespace maintained by the contentmanagement system 104 for the user. Hence, the two namespace areorganized the same, the namespaces include the same content items, andthe content items are synchronized. For example, if a content itemstored by the content management system 104 under the user's namespaceis modified (e.g., edited, deleted, or moved between folders), the localcopy of the content item is modified in the same way on the clientdevice 102. Similarly, if a local copy of a content item in the clientdevice's namespace is modified 102, the content item stored by thecontent management system 104 in the user's namespace is also modified.

Content management system 104 is a computer system that allows users toprovide content items for storage and allows users to access storedcontent items. For each user that has an account with the contentmanagement system 104, the content management system 104 maintains anamespace for the user. A user can provide content items to the contentmanagement system 104 for storage under the user's namespace. Further,through a client device 102 a user can access content items stored bythe content management system 104 under the user's namespace.

At the request of a user, the content management system 104 can createfolders in the user's namespace for the inclusion of one or more contentitems. Folders serve as a way of organizing content items within auser's namespace. Conventional folders are read/write folders, meaningthat the user can view (read) the content of the folder, and store(write) files in the folder. Another type of folder that can be createdis a collection folder. A collection folder allows a user to collectcontent items from submitting users, where one submitting user cannotaccess content items uploaded to the collection folder by othersubmitting users. The submitting users can be users that have an accountwith the content management system 104 and users that do not have anaccount with the system 104. As an example, a teacher having an accountwith the content management system 104 may create a collection folder tocollect homework assignments from students.

When a user having an account with the content management system 104requests via a client device 102 to create a collection folder, thecontent management system 104 creates the collection folder in theuser's namespace. A user requesting the creation of a collection folderis referred to as a collecting user. With the collection folder, thecontent management system 104 stores folder criteria provided by thecollecting user to control the content items added by to the collectionfolder. The folder criteria may include, for example, restrictions as tothe type of content items that may be stored in the folder (e.g.,content item must be in a certain format) and an expiration time for thefolder. After the expiration time, users can no longer store contentitems in the folder.

The content management system 104 also receives from the collecting userinformation associated with one or more users with whom the user wouldlike to share the collection folder. The collecting user shares thefolder with the users to allow them to add content items to the folder.Each of these users is to have write access to the collection folder.Write access allows a user to add content items to the folder but doesnot allow the user to access items added to the folder by other users. Auser having write access to a collection folder is referred to as asubmitting user.

In one embodiment, the information provided by the collecting user foreach submitting user is an email address of the submitting user. Usingthe information provided by the collecting user, the content managementsystem 104 sends a message to each collecting user. The message invitesa collecting user to add/upload content items to the collection foldermaintained by the system 104.

If a submitting user requests via a client device 102 to add a contentitem to the collection folder, the content management system 104verifies that adding the content item to the folder satisfies thecriteria set by the collecting user for the folder. If the criteria aresatisfied, the content management system 104 creates a sub-folder withinthe collection folder and adds the content item to the sub-folder. Thesub-folder is associated with the submitting user any additional itemsthat the user requests be added to the collection folder are stored inthe sub-folder. A message is sent to the submitting user notifying theuser that the content item has been added to the sub-folder.

In some embodiments, the content management system 104 provides thesubmitting user with write rights to the sub-folder so that additionalcontent items from the submitting user can be added to the sub-folder.The submitting user may also be given read and/or modifying rights tothe sub-folder. Read rights allow the submitting user to access contentitems that were added by him to the sub-folder. Modifying rights allowthe submitting user to edit (e.g., make changes or delete) content itemsthat were added by him to the sub-folder.

Although the submitting user may have write, read, or modifying rightsto the sub-folder created for the submitting user, the submitting userdoes not possess these rights to sub-folders created for othersubmitting users. Hence, the submitting user cannot see or accesscontent items added to the collection folder by other users. In oneembodiment, the content management system 104 does not even allow thesubmitting user to see that collection folder includes sub-folders forother users. In the example, of the teacher collecting assignments forher students. If a student uploads a homework assignment to thecollection folder, other students would not be able to access it becausethe other student's would not have rights to the sub-folder created forthe student.

At the request of the collecting user, the content management system 104provides the collecting user with analytics information of thecollection folder. The analytics information may include, for example,an indication as to how many submitting users have stored content itemsin the collection folder. Further, the content management system 104allows the collecting user to have access to the content items that areadded to collection folder by submitting users. Hence, the collectinguser can access the content items in each sub-folder of the collectionfolder.

At the request of the collecting user, the content management system 104can share the collection folder with a user and provide the user withadministrative rights to the collection folder. Having administrativerights to the collection folder allows the user to perform similaractions to those of the collecting user (e.g., access items provided bysome or all submitting users). The collecting user is able to controlthe level of administrative rights that the user possesses. Continuingwith the teacher example from above, the teacher can give a teacher'sassistant administrative rights to the collection folder to allow theassistant to access and grade the assignments submitted by the students.

Network 106 enables communication among the entities connected to it. Inone embodiment, network 106 is the Internet and uses standardcommunications technologies and/or protocols. Thus, network 106 caninclude links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, Long Term Evolution(LTE), digital subscriber line (DSL), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM),InfiniBand, etc. Similarly, the networking protocols used on network 106can include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), the transmissioncontrol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), the User Datagram Protocol(UDP), the hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), the simple mail transferprotocol (SMTP), the file transfer protocol (FTP), etc. The dataexchanged over the network 106 can be represented using technologiesand/or formats including the hypertext markup language (HTML), theextensible markup language (XML), etc. In addition, all or some of linkscan be encrypted using conventional encryption technologies such as thesecure sockets layer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS), virtualprivate networks (VPNs), Internet Protocol security (IPsec), etc. Inanother embodiment, the entities use custom and/or dedicated datacommunications technologies instead of, or in addition to, the onesdescribed above.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating modules operating within thecontent management system 104 according to one embodiment. The contentmanagement system 104 includes an account storage 202, a content storage204, an authentication module 206, a folder module 208, a share module210, an item module 212, an analytics module 214, and a synchronizationmodule 216. Those of skill in the art will recognize that otherembodiments of content management system 104 can have different and/orother components than the ones described here, and that thefunctionalities can be distributed among the components in a differentmanner.

The account storage 202 stores information for each user that hascreated an account with the content management system 104. Theinformation stored in the account storage 202 for a user may includepersonal information, such as name of the user, a communicationidentifier of the user (e.g., an email-address), authenticationinformation (e.g., a username and password) used to authenticate theuser, contact information for contacting the user, and paymentinformation (e.g., a credit card number or a bank account number) forcharging the user accrued fees. The information stored for a user mayalso include account information, such as the type of account the userhas with the system 104 (e.g., free or paid account), maximum storagespace allocated to the user, and amount of storage space being used bythe user.

The content storage 204 stores content items provided by user forstorage. In one embodiment, for each use that has an account with thecontent management system 104, the content storage 204 includes anamespace that stores content items uploaded by the user to the system104 for storage and content items shared with the user. The contentitems included in a namespace may be organized into folders as directedby a user. A folder may also include one or more folders within it,which are referred to as sub-folders. Further, a user's namespace mayinclude folders created by the user as well as folders shared with userby other users, as described in more detail below with reference to theshare module 210.

The authentication module 206 authenticates users having an account withthe content management system 104. When a user requests to performcertain actions, the authentication module 206 authenticates that theuser has an account with the content management system 104. For example,a user may be authenticated when the user requests information of anaccount or access to the namespace maintained in the content storage 204for the user.

In one embodiment, to authenticate a user, the authentication module 206checks whether the user's device 102 includes a cookie withauthentication information of the user. The authentication informationmay be, for example, an identifier of the user (e.g., email address orusername selected by the user) and a password. If the client device 102includes a cookie, the authentication module 206 verifies that theauthentication information included in the cookie matches theinformation stored in the account storage 202 for the user. If theclient device 102 does not include a cookie, the authentication module206 instructs the client device 102 to present an interface to userthrough which the user can provide authentication information. When theuser provides the authentication information via the interface, theauthentication module 206 verifies the authentication information. Inother embodiments, other methods may be used to authenticate a user,such as a client device 102 providing an authentication token assignedto the user.

In one embodiment, if a user has not previously created an account withthe content management system 104 and requests to create an account, theuser goes through a sign up process. The sign up process may include oneor more of the following: the user providing authentication informationto be used to authenticate the user, the user providing personalinformation, the user selecting the type of account he would like toopen (e.g., a free account or a paid account that provides the useraccess to more storage space than a free account), and the userproviding payment information. The information provided by the userduring the sign up is stored in the account storage 202 by theauthentication module 206.

The folder module 208 manages the creation of folders. A user requeststo create a new folder via a user interface of client application 108,or via a web interface provided by the content management system 104.The folder module 208 creates the folder in the user's name space in thecontent storage 204 at the particular hierarchy and with the particularname supplied by the user. The folder may be included within an existingfolder as a sub-folder. Additional description of namespace mapping isincluded in U.S. Pat. No. 8,825,597, incorporated by reference herein inits entirety.

In requesting the creation of a new folder, the user may request thatthe folder be a collection folder. As described above, a collectionfolder allows a collecting user to collect content items from submittingusers, where one submitting user cannot access content items uploaded tothe collection folder by other submitting users. In requesting that acollection folder be created, the collecting user provides foldercriteria for controlling the storage of content items in the collectionfolder. In one embodiment, the folder criteria provided by thecollecting user includes an expiration time for the collection folder.The expiration time is a date and time after which collecting users canno longer add items to the collection folder. For example, theexpiration time can be a deadline set by a teacher for students tosubmit homework assignments. Other folder criteria may include thatcontent items added to the folder be smaller than a certain size, thatthe content items be of a certain type (e.g., photos or in a certainformat), restrictions as to times during which collecting users cansubmit content items (e.g., only between 9 AM and 5 PM), and a maximumnumber of content items that each user can store in the folder (e.g.,one content items per user).

The folder criteria may further include restrictions as to which userscan add items to the collection folder. For example, the collecting usermay indicate that one or more of the following types of users can storecontent items in the collection folder: users that receive an invitationto submit content items, users having a certain password provided tothem by the collecting user, and any user that access the collectionfolder via a reference (e.g., a uniform resource locator (URL))associated with the folder. Other folder criteria may include that acontent item submitted by a submitting user be added to the collectionfolder only if the collecting user authorizes the submission. Forexample, when a submitting user requests to add a content item to thecollection folder, the collecting user is notified of the attemptedsubmission. The content item is then added to the folder if thecollecting user approves the submission.

In one embodiment, the collecting user can also request that copies ofcertain seed content items be automatically included in each sub-foldercreated in the collection folder. A submitting user associated with asub-folder can modify the copies in the sub-folder. As an example, seedcontent items can be human resource forms (e.g., tax documents) thatneed to be completed by new hires. When a sub-folder is created in thecollection folder for a new hire, copies of the forms are added to thesub-folder so that they can be completed by the new hire. Once they arecompleted, an administrator can retrieve the completed forms from thesub-folder.

The folder module 208 stores the folder criteria, an indication that thefolder is a collection folder, and any seed content items provided bythe user in the content storage 204 with the collection folder. Thefolder module 208 also stores information with the collection folderindicating that the collecting user has administrative rights to thecollection folder. In one embodiment, the administrative rights includethe collecting user be able to access each content item stored in thecollection folder, modify content items in the folder, add content itemsto the folder (e.g., seed content items), modify folder criteria (e.g.,the collecting user can change the expiration time of the folder), andaccess analytics information of the collection folder (e.g., the numberof submitting users that have added content items to the collectionfolder).

The share module 210 allows the sharing of folders with users. A folderbeing shared with a user signifies that the user has some type of rightsto the folder, such as rights to add content items to the folder, readcontent items in the folder, or modify content items in the folder. Afolder can be shared with users that have accounts with the contentmanagement system 104 and with users that do not have accounts.

In one embodiment, when a collecting user creates a collection folder,the collecting user indicates one or more submitting user with whom theuser would like to share the collection folder. The collecting userprovides a communication identifier for each submitting user that can beused to communicate with the user. In one embodiment, the communicationidentifier is an email address. In other embodiments, the communicationidentifier is a telephone number or an identifier of a user with aninstant messaging service.

The share module 210 creates a message to send to each submitting userinviting the submitting users to store content items in the collectionfolder. In one embodiment, the messages include a reference (e.g., aURL) to the collection folder that allows a submitting user to access aninterface for adding content items to the folder. In one embodiment, thesame reference is included in each message. In another embodiment, thereference included in each collecting user's message is unique to thesubmitting user. By including a unique reference with each message, thecontent management system 104 is able to distinguish between differentsubmitting users when they communicate with the system 104 to submitcontent items. In one embodiment, the share module 210 only includesreferences to the collection folder in messages to submitting users thatdo not have an account with the content management system 104. The sharemodule 210 sends the created messages to the submitting users using thecommunication identifiers provided by the collecting user.

In one embodiment, the share module 210 stores the communicationidentifiers of submitting users in the content storage 204 with thecollection folder. If unique references were created for each submittinguser, the unique references are also stored by the share module 210. Inone embodiment, the share module 210 additionally stores with thecollection folder information indicating that each submitting user haswrite rights to the folder. Write rights allow a submitting user to addcontent items to the collection folder, but do not allow the user toaccess items added to the folder by other submitting users.

Additionally, the share module 210 determines whether any of thesubmitting user's has an account with the content management system 104.To make the determination, for each submitting user, the share module210 checks whether the communication identifier provided for the user isincluded in the account storage 202. If the communication identifier isincluded in the account storage 202, the share module 210 identifies thesubmitting user and the user's namespace in the content storage 204. Theshare module 210 adds the collection folder to the submitting user'snamespace. Adding the collection folder to the submitting user'snamespace allows the user to see that the folder has been shared withthe user when the user accesses his namespace. Additionally, by thesubmitting user's namespace including the collection folder thesubmitting user can conveniently add content items to folder withouthaving to provide a reference to the folder, such as a referenceincluded in an invitation sent to the submitting user.

If the collecting user requests to share the collection folder with auser and to provide the user (administrative user) with administrativerights, the share module 210 stores with the collection folder anindication that the administrative user has administrative rights andwhich specific administrative rights the collecting user granted theadministrative user. The administrative rights that can be granted bythe collecting user include the administrative user being able to accesseach content item added stored in the collection folder (or items storedin specific sub-folders of the collection folder), modify content itemsin the folder (or items in specific sub-folders), add content items tothe folder (or items to specific sub-folders), modify folder criteria,and access analytics information for the collection folder. In oneembodiment, the share module 210 sends a message to the administrativeuser notifying the user that the collection folder has been shared withhim and that the user has administrative rights to the folder. Further,if the administrative user has an account with the content managementsystem 104, share module 210 adds the collection folder to the user'snamespace in the content storage 204.

The item module 212 processes requests from users related to existingcollection folder. The item module 212 receives requests from users toadd items to collection folders. When a user requests to add a contentitem to a collection folder (e.g., via a reference of the collectionfolder or via their namespace), the items module 212 determine whetherthe collection folder's expiration time has passed. If the expirationtime has passed, the item module 212 denies the request. On the otherhand, if the expiration time has not passed or if not expiration time isset, the item module 212 obtains identifying information of the user. Inone embodiment, the identifying information is a name of the user and acommunication identifier of the user (e.g., an email address). If theuser has an account with the content management system 104 and theauthentication module 206 has authenticated the user, the item module212 obtains the identifying information of the user from the accountstorage 202.

If the user does not have an account with the system 104, the itemmodule 212 sends a request to the user's client device 102 that the userprovide the identifying information. In one embodiment, if a uniquereference to the collection folder was provided to the user in a messageand the user used the unique reference to make the request, the itemmodule 212 can obtain at least part of the identifying information ofthe user based on the information that is stored with the folder. Forexample, the item module 212 may be able to obtain the communicationidentifier because it is stored in association with the reference.

In one embodiment, when the user provides the identifying information,the item module 212 performs a vetting process to verify at least partof the identifying information. The item module 212 verifies at leastpart of the information so that a user cannot fraudulently submit itemswith someone else's identity. In one embodiment, in the vetting process,the item module 212 verifies that the communication identifier providedby the user belongs to the user. In one embodiment, to verify thecommunication identifier, the item module 212 sends a message to thecommunication identifier with verifying information (e.g., a randomlycreated character string, a password provided by the collecting user, orURL). If the user provides the verifying information included in themessage, the identifying information is considered verified by the itemmodule 212.

Once the identifying information of the user is obtained and verified ifnecessary, the item module 212 determines whether the user has writerights to the collection folder and whether adding the content itemsatisfies the folder criteria provided by the collecting user for thefolder. If the user does not have write rights or adding the item doesnot satisfy the folder criteria, the item module 212 denies the user'srequest. On the other hand, if the user has write rights and foldercriteria are satisfied, the item module 212 determines whether asub-folder is already included in the collection folder for the user.

If the collection folder includes a sub-folder for the user, the itemmodule 212 adds the content item to the sub-folder. If the collectionfolder does not include a sub-folder for the user, the item module 212creates the sub-folder within the collection folder in the contentstorage 204 and associates the sub-folder with the user. The item module212 adds the content item to the sub-folder associated with the user.The item module 212 sends a message to the user indicating that thecontent item has been added to the collection folder.

In one embodiment, when adding the content item to the sub-folder, theitem module 212 includes with the content item date informationindicating when the content item was stored in the sub-folder. In oneembodiment, the item module 212 stores with the sub-folder in thecontent storage 204 information indicating that the user has write rightto the sub-folder. The item module 212 may also store that the user hasread and modifying rights to the sub-folder. In one embodiment, the userloses the any write, reads, and modifying rights after the expirationtime of the collection folder. In another embodiment, the user loseswrite and modifying rights, but retains read rights to be able to viewsubmitted content items.

When a user requests to access a sub-folder or an item included in asub-folder of a collection folder, the item module 212 identifies theidentifying information of the user. Based on the identifyinginformation and the information stored in the content storage 204, theitem module 212 determines whether the user has rights for thesub-folder or administrative rights that allow the user to perform therequested action. If the user does not have the appropriate rights, therequest is denied by the item module 212. On the other hand, if the userhas the rights, the item module 212 performs the requested action.

The analytics module 214 generates analytics information for collectionfolders. When a user with the appropriate administrative rights requestsanalytics information for a collection folder, the item module 212generates the analytics information and sends the information to aclient device 102 of the user for display. The analytics information isgenerated by analyzing the collection folder in the content storage 204.In one embodiment, the analytic information generated by the item module212 includes a number of users that have submitted content items for thecollection folder. The item module 212 determines the number by countingthe number of sub-folders in the collection folder. Additional analyticsinformation may also include the number of potential submitters, whichis determined based on the number of invitations sent out by the sharemodule 210 for the collection folder. Other analytics information thatmay be generated for the collection folder is a list of names of usersthat have stored content items in the folder and a breakdown ofdifferent times that user submitted content items.

The synchronization module 216 synchronizes changes to folders acrosssystems. A folder may be changed, for example, when a user modifies acontent item in the folder or reorganizes a folder (e.g., the hierarchyof the folder). When a folder is modified in a namespace stored in thecontent storage 204 or in a local copy of a namespace on a client device102, the synchronization module 216 identifies the modifications made tothe folder. The synchronization module 216 sends instructions to clientdevices 102 that include out-dated versions of folder to make theidentified modifications. Further, if the content storage 204 includesan out-dated version of the folder, the synchronization module 216 makesthe identified modifications to the folder in the content storage 204.Additional description of folder synchronization is included in U.S.Pat. No. 8,825,597.

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram of a process for a collecting user tofacilitate obtaining content items from submitting users according toone embodiment. The interaction diagram illustrates the steps performedby a client device 102A (may also be referred to as the collectorclient) operated by a collecting user, the content management system104, and a client device 102B (may also be referred to as the submittingclient) operated by a submitting user.

Those of skill in the art will recognize that other embodiments canperform the steps described below for FIG. 3 in different order.Moreover, other embodiments can include different and/or additionalsteps that the ones described

Assume for purposes of this example that the collecting user has anaccount with the content management system 104 and that the contentmanagement system 104 maintains a namespace for the collecting user. Atthe request of the collecting user, the collector client 102A sends 302a request to the content management system 104 that a collection folderbe created for the collecting user. The content management system 104creates 304 the collection folder in the namespace of the collectinguser. The system 104 may also store folder criteria provided by thecollecting user for the folder and an indication that the collectinguser has administrative rights to the folder.

The collector client 102A also sends 306 to the content managementsystem 104 identifying information of one or more user with whom theuser would like to share the collection folder. At least one of theusers is the submitting user operating the submitting client 102B. Thecontent management system 104 stores 308 with the collection folderinformation indicating that the one or more users have write rights tothe folder.

The content management system 104 sends 310 a message to the submittingclient 102 inviting the submitting user to add a content item to thecollection folder. At the request of the submitting user, the submittingclient 102B sends 312 a request that the content management system 104store a content item in the collection folder. The content managementsystem 104 verifies 314 that the submitting user has the rights to storethe content item in the collection folder. The content management system104 creates 316 a sub-folder in the collection folder for the submittinguser and stores 318 the content item in the sub-folder.

The content management system 104 stores 320 information with thecollection folder indicating that the user has write rights to thesub-folder. The submitting user is not given rights to sub-folderscreated for other users in order to prevent the submitting user fromaccessing or modifying content items stored by the other users and toprevent the submitting user from adding content items to the otherusers' sub-folders. The content management system 104 sends 322 amessage to the submitting client 102B indicating that the content itemhas been stored in the collection folder.

Additional Considerations

The foregoing described embodiments have been presented for the purposeof illustration; they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limitingto the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art canappreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above disclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance oftheir work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally, computationally, or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalentelectrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, describedmodules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, and/or it may include one or moregeneral-purpose computing devices selectively activated or reconfiguredby one or more stored computer programs. A computer program may bestored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium,or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, whichmay be coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computingsystems referred to in the specification may include a single processoror may be architectures employing multiple processor designs forincreased computing capability.

Described embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by acomputing process described herein. Such a product may includeinformation resulting from a computing process, where the information isstored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage mediumand may include any embodiment of a computer program product or otherdata combination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsof the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:creating, by a content management system, a folder in a namespaceassociated with a collecting user in response to the collecting userrequesting creation of the folder, the folder associated with a project;receiving, by the content management system from the collecting user,identifying information associated with a plurality of submitting users,the plurality of submitting users including a first submitting user anda second submitting user: transmitting, by the content management systemto each of the plurality of submitting users based on the identifyinginformation, a message inviting the submitting user to add a contentitem to the folder; receiving, by the content management system from afirst device associated with the first submitting user, a first contentitem with a request from the first submitting user to add the firstcontent item to the folder; receiving, by the content management systemfrom a second device associated with the second submitting user, asecond content item with a request from the second submitting user toadd the second content item to the folder; automatically creating, bythe content management system, a first sub-folder within the folder andadding the first content item to the first sub-folder based on therequest to add the first content item to the folder, the firstsub-folder associated with the first submitting user; automaticallycreating, by the content management system, a second sub-folder withinthe folder and adding the second content item to the second sub-folderbased on the request to add the second content item to the folder, thesecond sub-folder associated with the second submitting user, the firstsubmitting user unable to access the second sub-folder and the secondsubmitting user unable to access the first sub-folder; providing, by thecontent management system to the collecting user, access to the firstsub-folder and the second sub-folder; receiving, by the contentmanagement system from the collecting user, a request requesting anumber of individual submitting users that have added content items tothe folder; responsive to receiving the request, determining, by thecontent management system, a numeric number of sub-folders included inthe folder, the numeric number of sub-folders less than a number of theplurality of submitting users; and sending, by the content managementsystem to a client device associated with the collecting user, thenumeric number of sub-folders, the numeric number displayed to thecollecting user as the number of individual submitting users that haveadded content items to the folder.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving an additional request to add a third content itemto the folder; and responsive to an expiration time associated with thefolder being surpassed, denying the additional request.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: providing the first submitting user a writeright to add one or more content items to the first sub-folder and aread right to access content items added by the first submitting user tothe first sub-folder; and responsive to an expiration time associatedwith the folder being surpassed, removing the write right from the firstsubmitting user and allowing the first submitting user to retain theread right.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive tothe collecting user requesting to grant administrative rights to anadditional user, providing the additional user access to the firstcontent item in the first sub-folder and to the second content item inthe second sub-folder based on the granted administrative rights.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to creating the firstsub-folder, adding to the first-sub folder a first copy of a seeddocument, the first submitting user having rights to edit the first copyin the first-sub folder; and responsive to creating the secondsub-folder, adding to the second-sub folder a second copy of a seeddocument, the second submitting user having rights to edit the secondcopy in the second-sub folder.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst sub-folder is associated with the first submitting user based onverified information provided by the first submitting user, the verifiedinformation identifying the first submitting user.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the verified information includes a communicationidentifier and verifying the communication identifier comprises: sendinga message with verification information to the communication identifier;and responsive to receiving the verification information from the firstsubmitting user, approving the communication identifier as verified. 8.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving an additionalrequest to add a third content item to the folder; and responsive to thethird content item not being in a format specified by the collectinguser, denying the additional request.
 9. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having executable program instructionsfor performing operations comprising: creating, by a content managementsystem, a folder in a namespace associated with a collecting user inresponse to the collecting user requesting creation of the folder, thefolder associated with a project; receiving, by the content managementsystem from the collecting user, identifying information associated witha plurality of submitting users, the plurality of submitting usersincluding a first submitting user and a second submitting user;transmitting, by the content management system to each of the pluralityof submitting users based on the identifying information, a messageinviting the submitting user to add a content item to the folder;receiving, by the content management system from a first deviceassociated with the first submitting user, a first content item with arequest from the first submitting user to add the first content item tothe folder; receiving, by the content management system from a seconddevice associated with the second submitting user, a second content itemwith a request from the second submitting user to add the second contentitem to the folder; automatically creating, by the content managementsystem, a first sub-folder within the folder and adding the firstcontent item to the first sub-folder based on the request to add thefirst content item to the folder, the first sub-folder associated withthe first submitting user; automatically creating, by the contentmanagement system, a second sub-folder within the folder and adding thesecond content item to the second sub-folder based on the request to addthe second content item to the folder, the second sub-folder associatedwith the second submitting user, the first submitting user unable toaccess the second sub-folder and the second submitting user unable toaccess the first sub-folder; providing, by the content management systemto the collecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the secondsub-folder; receiving, by the content management system from thecollecting user, a request requesting a number of individual submittingusers that have added content items to the folder; responsive toreceiving the request, determining, by the content management system, anumeric number of sub-folders included in the folder, the numeric numberof sub-folders less than a number of the plurality of submitting users;and sending, by the content management system to a client deviceassociated with the collecting user, the numeric number of sub-folders,the numeric number displayed to the collecting user as the number ofindividual submitting users that have added content items to the folder.10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:receiving an additional request to add a third content item to thefolder; and responsive to an expiration time associated with the folderbeing surpassed, denying the additional request.
 11. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:providing the first submitting user a write right to add one or morecontent items to the first sub-folder and a read right to access contentitems added by the first submitting user to the first sub-folder; andresponsive to an expiration time associated with the folder beingsurpassed, removing the write right from the first submitting user andallowing the first submitting user to retain the read right.
 12. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:responsive to the collecting user requesting to grant administrativerights to an additional user, providing the additional user access tothe first content item in the first sub-folder and to the second contentitem in the second sub-folder based on the granted administrativerights.
 13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, furthercomprising: responsive to creating the first sub-folder, adding to thefirst-sub folder a first copy of a seed document, the first submittinguser having rights to edit the first copy in the first-sub folder; andresponsive to creating the second sub-folder, adding to the second-subfolder a second copy of a seed document, the second submitting userhaving rights to edit the second copy in the second-sub folder.
 14. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the firstsub-folder is associated with the first submitting user based onverified information provided by the first submitting user, the verifiedinformation identifying the first submitting user.
 15. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the verifiedinformation includes a communication identifier and verifying thecommunication identifier comprises: sending a message with verificationinformation to the communication identifier; and responsive to receivingthe verification information from first submitting user, approving thecommunication identifier as verified.
 16. A content management systemcomprising: one or more computer processors; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage storing instruction that when executed by theone or more processors cause the processors to perform operationscomprising: creating a folder in a namespace associated with acollecting user in response to the collecting user requesting creationof the folder, the folder associated with a project; receiving, from thecollecting user, identifying information associated with a plurality ofsubmitting users, the plurality of submitting users including a firstsubmitting user and a second submitting user; transmitting, to each ofthe plurality of submitting users based on the identifying information,a message inviting the submitting user to add a content item to thefolder; receiving, from a first device associated with the firstsubmitting user, a first content item with a request from the firstsubmitting user to add the first content item to the folder; receiving,from a second device associated with the second submitting user, asecond content item with a request from the second submitting user toadd the second content item to the folder; automatically creating, bythe content management system, a first sub-folder within the folder andadding the first content item to the first sub-folder based on therequest to add the first content item to the folder, the firstsub-folder associated with the first submitting user; automaticallycreating, by the content management system, a second sub-folder withinthe folder and adding the second content item to the second sub-folderbased on the request to add the second content item to the folder, thesecond sub-folder associated with the second submitting user, the firstsubmitting user unable to access the second sub-folder and the secondsubmitting user unable to access the first sub-folder; providing, to thecollecting user, access to the first sub-folder and the secondsub-folder; providing, to the collecting user, access to the firstsub-folder and the second sub-folder; receiving, from the collectinguser, a request requesting a number of individual submitting users thathave added content items to the folder; responsive to receiving therequest, determining a numeric number of sub-folders included in thefolder, the numeric number of sub-folders less than a number of theplurality of submitting users; and sending, to a client deviceassociated with the collecting user, the numeric number of sub-folders,the numeric number displayed to the collecting user as the number ofindividual submitting users that have added content items to the folder.17. The system of claim 16, wherein the instruction further cause theone or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving anadditional request to add a third content item to the folder; andresponsive to an expiration time associated with the folder beingsurpassed, denying the additional request.
 18. The system of claim 16,wherein the instruction further cause the one or more processors toperform operations comprising: providing the first submitting user awrite right to add one or more content items to the first sub-folder anda read right to access content items added by the first submitting userto the first sub-folder; and responsive to an expiration time associatedwith the folder being surpassed, removing the write right from the firstsubmitting user and allowing the first submitting user to retain theread right.